We do one thing, and we do it well: get your crews certified on the cranes they actually run. Nine times out of ten that means on-site, employer-based training — our instructors come to your jobsite and test your operators on your own iron, anywhere in the U.S. or overseas, instead of a rental nobody's touched before. More than 1,000 companies have run crews through us — see who we've trained →
Rather build the muscle in-house? Our train-the-trainer and employer evaluator (EQP) programs set your own people up to train and qualify everyone who comes after. And when you need a machine to test on, bring your operators to our crane operator school in Goldsboro, NC — real working cranes at our partner yard, Harris Steel Erectors. We're founder-led by a working NCCCO operator, crane inspector, and lift director who's been on cranes since 2005 — the person who designs your training still wears boots, not loafers.
What We Do — Four Core Services
Qualifying & Rigging Classes — Our Bread and Butter
Qualifying classes are the heart of what we do. Since 2010, OSHA has required a qualified rigger and a qualified signal person on crane work (1926.1404 and 1926.1428), plus a qualified person to plan and oversee the lift. We get your people qualified — and documented — in days, not semesters, on your jobsite or at our Goldsboro yard.
Every class ends in a written and practical evaluation that produces the exact record an OSHA compliance officer asks for. No fluff, no filler — just the credential and the paperwork that holds up on an audit.
The ground crew comes first. Rigger Level I is the bread and butter — hitches, hardware, sling angles, the stuff that keeps a load from teaching anybody a lesson. Level II is for the bigger thinking: engineered lifts, load-weight math, multi-crane picks. Add a qualified signal person so the operator and the ground are speaking the same language, and a basic rigging day that gets your newer hands safe before Friday.
And because the paperwork matters as much as the pick, we qualify the folks who keep both honest — gear and sling inspection, below-the-hook devices, overhead crane inspection, documented operator evaluations — plus lift director and crane inspector credentials for the people signing off on the plan.
Train-the-Trainer & Employer Evaluator (EQP)
If you run cranes regularly, the smartest money you'll spend is on your own trainer. OSHA 1926.1427 makes the employer responsible for evaluating every operator on the specific equipment and tasks they run — so we build a qualified in-house trainer and evaluator (an employer qualified person, or EQP) who can train, test, and document your crews going forward.
Train your team once, then qualify every new hire in-house — and stop paying per head for outside training. We run discipline-specific programs for each machine and role.
Pick your discipline — mobile crane, overhead crane, rigger, or signal person — and we build your trainer around the machines your crews actually run. They walk out with the whole kit: curriculum, written exams, practical score sheets, and the recordkeeping an OSHA audit expects — plus enough reps actually teaching it that the binder isn't doing the heavy lifting.
If you're certifying more than a handful of people a year, do the math. No travel windows. No waiting on somebody else's calendar. Every new hire qualified the same week they walk through the gate.
Every Crane Class We Certify
We certify every class of crane an operator runs in the field, and we match the NCCCO exam to the iron you already own — so your operators test on familiar equipment, not a rental they've never touched. From mobile and tower cranes to overhead, gantry, and the full range of boom and industrial machines:
Mobile is where most of the work lives, so that's where the catalog runs deepest — from fixed cab, swing cab, and lattice-boom crawlers to the trucks that do the day-to-day lifting — boom trucks, carry decks, service rigs. If it picks and swings — rough-terrain, all-terrain, any of it — we certify on it. Indoors and overhead — gantries, bridge cranes, jibs — same story: and the credential is the same federal-grade NCCCO certification either way. We bring the exam to your iron, not the other way around.
Guides & Answers
Straight answers to the questions operators and employers actually ask — requirements, costs, exam prep, and how the OSHA rules really work:
Thinking about the trade — or got somebody on your crew who is? Start at the beginning: how you actually become a crane operator, what the feds require, what certification costs, what the seat pays, and why a “license” and a “certification” aren't the same thing. In some states, that difference bites. And before anyone sells you an online crane certification, read what OSHA actually accepts.
Test week coming? Run the free practice tests so the question style isn't a surprise on exam day — and when the rule book gets thick, the guides below turn OSHA regulation into something you can hand a crew.
The blog is where we think out loud — which NCCCO card you actually need, what OSHA's operator rules mean this year, employer-based training versus crane school, and where the career goes after your first seat time.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do you bring crane training to our jobsite?
Yes. Employer-based, on-site training is our flagship — we mobilize NCCCO-certified trainers and practical examiners to your site anywhere in the U.S. and OCONUS, and test your operators on your own equipment. You can also certify at our partner yard in Goldsboro, NC — our partner Harris Steel Erectors — on real working cranes.
What crane and rigging certifications do you offer?
NCCCO Mobile Crane Operator (Lattice Boom Crawler, Telescopic Boom Truck, and Swing Cab), Tower Crane, Overhead & Gantry Crane, plus Qualified Rigger (Levels I & II), Qualified Signal Person, and train-the-trainer / employer qualified-evaluator programs.
What locations do you serve?
All 50 states, the U.S. territories (Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and more), and overseas U.S. military bases — on your jobsite or at our Goldsboro, NC location. Browse every state & city we serve →
What is crane train-the-trainer, and why does it matter?
OSHA 1926.1427 requires the employer to evaluate each operator on the specific equipment and tasks. Train-the-trainer builds a qualified in-house trainer/evaluator so you can certify, evaluate, and document your own crews going forward — a smart option for companies that run cranes regularly.
Can you certify our operators on our own cranes?
Yes. For employer-based training we run the NCCCO practical exam on your iron at your site, which also satisfies the documented employer-evaluation step under 1926.1427 — no travel and no unfamiliar equipment.
How do we schedule training or get a quote?
Call (252) 229-5238 or request a quote through our contact page. We schedule around your project, not a fixed classroom calendar.
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